The 50 Absolute Coolest McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys Of All Time

McDonald's has been giving out toys to kids for decades, but when they introduced the Happy Meal in 1979, the game was changed forever. In addition to your burger, (or nuggets) small fry and drink, McDonald's also offered whatever amazing new toy happened to be in rotation. Whoever came up with this idea was a marketing genius, because "collecting the whole set" has definitely had kids screaming at Mom & Dad to hit up the golden arches on the reg for over 30 years.

Since the Happy Meal and I are just about the same age, I kinda feel like I grew up with it. In addition to coming up with the Happy Meal, I also had the opportunity to collect some of the best toys Mickey D's has offered to date. We have a complete list of the top 50 from Complex, but I would love to touch on a few of my favorites first. Chances are, you bothered your parents for the exact same toys, so put on your nostalgia hats and take a walk with me down McMemory Lane.

Changeables - (1989)

I remember having the entire set of these robot morphing menu items. They were pretty fun to play with, and now that I think about it, they probably had me craving McDonald's all the time. I was only 8 at the time, so I was too young to even realize McDonald's marketing genius, nor did I care. Fries, robots, mmmmm.

Jungle Book Wind-Up Toys - (1990)

Nothing went better with the Disney classic than the wind up toys to match. Shere Khan definitely looks less intimidating in toy form, but other than that, the characters are well represented. This is another set that I had the entire collection of at the tender age of 9.

Dinosaur Talking Story Books - (1989)

Seriously, who wanted to hold a book while eating delicious fast food? Not this kid. Once again, the 8-year-old version of me was on point. In my early years of DJing I would drop only the phattest educational beats and it was all hands free.

Lunch Boxes - (1987)

These were horrible to actually use as lunch boxes, plus at the time, the metal character lunch boxes were the top of the crop. It wasn't a total fail though, because these made for the raddest pencil, marker, and crayon cases. Plus, the parentals loved the fact that you actually used them to put things away.

Beanie Babies - (1997)

By the time 1997 rolled around I was old enough to drive and was far beyond my Happy Meal years. I was ordering Quarter Pounder value meals by then, but I still had cousins who were young enough to fiend during the Beanie Babies craze of the late 90's. These were smaller, but still had the tag - and everyone knows that the tag meant it was the real deal.